BASEBALL

BASEBALL; Mets Gift-Wrap Big Inning for Mlicki

By JENNIFER FREY

Published: June 9, 1995

SAN FRANCISCO, June 8—
Dave Mlicki did not know what kind of lead the Mets needed to feel safe from Barry Bonds, the Giants slugger. Neither did his manager, Dallas Green.

Bonds dismantled a Mets lead with one hit on Tuesday, and he destroyed yet another possible Mets victory on Wednesday night. Today at Candlestick Park, though, the Mets created something they had not been able to do in their two previous outings -- they built a lead that was Bonds-proof.

The second straight strong performance by the offense gave Mlicki a seven-run cushion in the first inning, he was spared any major disasters from the bullpen and the Mets beat San Francisco, 9-6. The triumph sent the Mets to San Diego with a 3-4 record on this trip, 16-24 over all.

"We just haven't gotten over the hump yet, and we haven't gotten confidence in ourselves as a team to get through that kind of stuff," Green said when asked if he ever felt safe with the lead. "It's very frustrating because we've struggled to do that."

Bobby Bonilla and Chris Jones led the Mets with three hits apiece and Brett Butler drove in two runs as the Mets finished with 14 hits, two more than they had produced in the previous game. The two-day totals -- 26 hits, 17 runs -- marked a significant turnaround for an offense Green described as "sickening" on Tuesday afternoon.

"Guys are getting some key hits, and that's what we've needed," Butler said. "Maybe this can get things going for us."

Mlicki said: "It's nice to have that kind of lead, but sometimes it makes it even harder. They score that many runs and you have to go out there and make sure you don't give in."

Pitching on his 27th birthday, Mlicki earned his fourth victory of the season (4-1) and now is tied with Bobby Jones in that category. He left the game with one out in the eighth, having given up five earned runs on eight hits and having thrown a monstrous 141 pitches.

After two days of bullpen disasters, it's no wonder that Green waited so long to turn to his bullpen, and, when he did, he called on Doug Henry -- the only reliever who has been without blame on this trip. Henry gave up a run-scoring single to Bonds in the bottom of the ninth (Bonds stood and admired the hit at the plate, as if he had hit a homer), but held on to earn the save.

"Bonds had an unbelievable series against us," said Bonilla, referring to Bonds's amazing numbers of 10 hits, 4 doubles, 1 home run and 8 r.b.i. "He's the man. He gets the job done."

Bonds also hit an eighth-inning, two-run homer off Mlicki, who was tagged for a solo shot by Mark Carreon in the fourth inning as well. But even his minor problems -- and the call to the bullpen -- could not destroy the lead the Mets had created at the start of the game.

The seven first-inning runs were the most for the Mets in a single inning this season, and the most in the first inning since they scored nine off San Francisco on Aug. 16, 1988. They came on six hits, five of those off Trevor Wilson, whose start lasted seven batters and one-third of an inning. Wilson -- who came into the game with a 2.68 e.r.a., one of the league's best -- walked Butler to open the game, and gave up a single to Edgardo Alfonzo, a double to Jones, a double to Bonilla and singles to Kelly Stinnett and Ryan Thompson before Dusty Baker trudged to the mound to remove him from the game.

Reliever Mark Dewey came on and gave up a walk and a two-out single before the Giants escaped the inning.

"The Mets found every hole in the infield, hit a couple balls down the right-field line," Baker said. "They jumped us early -- it was like a nightmare in the first inning. I haven't felt like that in a long, long time." INSIDE PITCH

TIM BOGAR sprained his left ankle on the base paths in the eighth inning and will be re-evaluated this weekend. . . . BOBBY BONILLA harshly criticized himself for a costly base-running blunder in the ninth inning of the Mets' 9-8 loss to the Giants on Wednesday night. "I was too aggressive; it was stupid," said Bonilla, who was heading to third -- from first -- on a deep fly ball when DARREN LEWIS caught it in center. Bonilla was doubled off first to end the game. . . . ERIC GUNDERSON, the loser in Wednesday's game, was in the bullpen doing early work with the pitching coach, GREG PAVLICK. With the Mets leading, 7-6, Gunderson gave up a bases-loaded double to BARRY BONDS in the eighth inning. . . . The Mets' bullpen has appeared in 38 games and has given up runs in 25 of those games (66 total earned runs). . . . PAUL WILSON took his record to 5-0 with a complete-game victory for the Class AA Binghamton Mets on Wednesday. Wilson, a right-hander, gave up one earned run on four hits and struck out 10.